So, you're not going to buy an iPad, no way, not in a million years . . . Well, you've got company. A lot of people on the internet swear they aren't going to buy one either - at the end of every single iPad article going, in fact, often quite crossly (as in "WTF! what does it even do? What's the point!!"), Twitter, too, has been full of comments that are, very pointedly, being sent from iPhones that "fit in my pocket!"

But these, almost certainly, are people who like to write (tweets, emails, blogs, whatever). The voices we aren't hearing from are the readers - those (like you?) who like nothing better than settling down with a good book, or merrily browsing the internet, exploring content for hours on end.

Like it or not, the iPad is going to change, radically, expectations of how we read - that's its key selling point. And even if the Amazon Kindle is easier on the eyes with its "virtual ink", and its battery lasts longer, the fact it's also grey, doesn't play Doodle Jump and, well, just looks a bit rubbish in comparison, will make all the difference in the end.

Someone you know is bound to get one. They'll rave about it, and you'll roll your eyes. But then, not that reluctantly, you'll have a go - visit a few news sites, Amazon, Facebook, Flickr. You'll double-tap into columns of text, poke and swish your way through pin-sharp rich photos. And soon, a new benchmark will have been set.

In two years, devices that don't work as simply or elegantly will feel odd and clumsy. Unless your reading experience is bright and colourful, fast and easy, and nothing like holding an oversized TV remote with its wild assortment of buttons, what you're using will seem old fashioned and awkward - a bit like Betamax . . . or Nokia.

The iPad will become the way, if not the actual device, by which we'll want to consume content. You may not buy one, but it's a safe bet you'll buy something like it. In a couple of years' time, say.